I don't have to know an answer. I don't feel frightened by not knowing things, by being lost in the mysterious universe without having any purpose, which is the way it really is, as far as I can tell, possibly. It doesn't frighten me. -Richard Feynman

Monday, December 31, 2007

1. new link in the sidebar. i know her name, but i dont think she wants you to.

2. woody and i were coming home from dinner tonight and we ran over a cat. we pulled over and he went to the door of the house, and they came out and got their cat and went to the emergency vet. it was still alive, and could walk, but was hurt. i cried.

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

we went to my parents for christmas eve/christmas morning. we have always opened presents on christmas eve, and this year was no different. it works out well, because woodys family does christmas dinner (well lunch actually, but they call it dinner) and presents afterward.i got some good presents, and have a couple of cool ones here:these books were my great grandmas, the one on the left is titled 'beverly of graustark' and is one i have not heard of, let alone read. the one on the right is 'poems of edgar allan poe', which i have read some of, and enjoy.the above photo is of the copyright for the 'graustark' book, september of 1904. impressive.this is of the poe book, and the copyright is 1883, and not legible in this photo. anyhoo, pretty cool stuff.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

so, one of the things i do at work is file death certificates. not like putting them in files, but get them filed with the county. when someone dies it is my job to contact their doctor (usually when a person dies they are seeing a doctor regularly up until they pass away) and get the persons causes of death. then i enter those causes into their death certificate (its all done electronically, on the internet, not on paper anymore) and submit them back to the doctor for their attestation (either verbally, to a machine, or by signing a paper that is then read by a machine) of those causes. the causes are then sent, by me, to the county for approval and to be made into a real paper death certificate that the next-of-kin uses for various things. sometimes its not quite like this (its the coroner instead of a doctor), but it all very similar. anyway, i was thinking today how interesting it would be to do death certificates for the people that die in the show, house. i mean, there are some strange causes of death out there, and i would like to see what the certificate reads for some of them. actually, up until recently it was acceptable to have the cause 'GOK' on the certificate, which stands for 'god only knows'. very interesting.

Sunday, December 16, 2007

the incredibles was on tv tonight, and we were watching it for a while (its a pretty cute movie) and a mcdonalds commercial came on that i made woody rewind. i had tears flowing down my face from laughing so hard. best commercial ever. i found it on youtube, but its better on tv. it helps to have sound (sorry, mike).

Thursday, December 13, 2007

we get quite a few catalogs in the mail, and newspaper print things, that the mailperson leaves on our porch because it never fits in the mailbox. anyhoo, i havent picked any of it up in about a month, and tonight i went through it all and have some great gift ideas for those of you that need to get something for someone (i suppose they would need to have my taste).

this is a bracelet, and actually the necklace that matches it is what i really wanted to show here, but there wasnt a good pic of it that i could post. its available through the sundance catalog, and is leather with pearls (i am not sure why i love pearls so much, but i do) and silver. the bracelet is $195, and the necklace 52", single strand that can be tripled when worn) is $225. now, that seems like a lot of money, and it is, but its soooooooooooooo pretty.this next one is cool, but a bit cheesy. they are ballpoint pens from red envelope that are made from salvaged wood that used to be seats and various baseball stadiums. they dont offer candlestick park though, and i think they should (there are other companies that offer these pens and they probably have them) and they run from $170 - $250 depending on the park.the next thing i dont have a picture of, and you need to see it to appreciate it, so click here. they are wine glasses, and apparently are on backorder till feb. but the company, uncommon goods, that offers them has some cool stuff.

thats really it, three things, and remember, qvc is on 24 hours for your shopping convenience as well.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

this is a picture i took of the hospital that my dad was born at. many of you have likely seen it, its the abandoned building on fulton where the 180 exits. im not sure why its just sitting there still, but i think we should buy it, renovate it, and all live there. its pretty big, we could have parties every day.

Monday, December 10, 2007

1. people that dont stop at stop signs. it is probably the easiest rule to follow, all you have to do is stop. the vehicle does not move when stopped. the sign does not read 'roll slowly'. stop. thats it.

2. alternative music. its just junk.

3. women (and men i suppose) that think that because they dont want/like kids that i have done myself and society a disservice by having one. some of us want children, and dont want you to have them if you dont want them. how come you cant do me the same courtesy?

4. not having lights up on my house for christmas. i am certainly not going up on the roof, i am much too dainty for that kind of stuff, and woody is too lazy and apparently doesnt listen to my nagging.

5. parents that teach their kids that 'hate' is a bad word. its not. it is ridiculous to say that it is. i mean, i dont want kids that run around telling someone that they hate them, but i also dont want them to tattle to me about some other kid that says hate either. its okay to hate things anyway.

Sunday, December 09, 2007

i tend to have very vivid dreams (as im sure i have told some of you) and last night i had one that i remember (for the most part) about adams contest. im not sure why i was around in the dream, watching adam make this small table (like an end table or so, nothing big like a coffee table), but i was, and the drawing above is what i remember. the four quadrants are a medium-color stain, and the grain directions for all four are at right angles to the one it joins to (using dove tails). you cant really see in the photo, but i penciled in the grain direction. the dots in the corners are holes drilled in all the way through the tabletop, with dowels stuck in them sanded flush with the surface and they go through the underside and meet up with this funky piece on the legs (picture to come tonight when i finish it). those are stained dark. the circle in the middle of the table is stained dark, and the details of it are fuzzy, i dont remember if it was one piece, pieced together, or what direction the grain was going. the rectangle is a birds-eye maple inlay.

now, i wont be offended when the piece you design looks nothing like this, but it would make a nice table (or cutting board).

UPDATE:this shows the table from the side. its hard to tell whats going on, but shows the dowels that go from the top through to the wooden pieces underneath.this next one shows what the dowels are commecting to (and actually stick out of a little (like 1/2inch).this last one shows a view from the bottom (i didnt bother drawing in the circle or dovetailing as they are too hard) so that you can get an idea of what im trying to depict in the above photos.

Friday, December 07, 2007

you might be wondering what this is a picture of. well, i went to the costco in visalia today to get some tires and hot chocolate and on my way out i saw this girl entering costco. shes the one in a pink top and jeans that look like capris in this picture. this is why i took it actually, theyre not capris, but those are her gold lame boots worn over her jeans. very interesting. actually, not interesting, just ugly.

Thursday, December 06, 2007

my neighbor, josh, recently took a trip to romania. well, a while after the trip he found out how much i love salami sandwiches (well, salami anything really, but sandwiches are what i love the most) he told me about this store in romania (i think a regular grocery store) that he had to show me pictures of. it turns out he is a fan of salami and in romania they have myriad types (as you can see in the photos(and adam, how do you like my use of myriad?)) and they are made sans preservatives so once you open the package it needs to be eaten within a day or two (yum). the picture above shows the lovely meat murals in the store. and this one shows 1/3 of the salami selection in the store. 1/3!!!! can you believe it?? anyone want to go to romania??

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

also, i am going to be staying in visalia at ambers until saturday. if anyone is in the mood for round table (i know you have those in fresno, but we dont in bakersfield) and are in the area, give me a call.

at target they have a little speaker set for ipods in their christmas gift section for $5. i thought it sounded really cheap and didnt expect much, but wanted to have ipod access at work so i bought one. its great. i have been listening all morning and love it.

Monday, December 03, 2007

i love christmas music. mostly hymns, but some non-hymns as well. i love when radio stations play all christmas, all the time. thats the best. now, youre probably wondering which songs are my favorite. well, heres a list (in no particular order except for the first one):o holy night (my favorite)all i want for christmas is you (mariah carey version)silent nightgod rest ye merry geltlemenhark, the herald angels, singo christmas tree (in both languages)

there are probably more, but i dont remember them right now, maybe ill update.and really, i like most christmas songs, but the ones listed above i could listen to all year.

my neighbor emailed me a link to a story about a men of mortuaries calendar. ive seen it before, but i thought id give you the link that talks about it. also, here is the official website. it makes me wonder if theres going to be a womens version as well.

speaking of mortuaries, i had a long day this morning doing some reconstruction work. the whole time i kept wondering about why some people die and others live. how come some accidents seem so bad and people live, and others dont seam nearly as awful and those people die? i know we could have a huge discussion on that topic, but dont really care to. its just one of those thinks i wonder about.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

i am going to put in an order with cafe press today or tomorrow for a few christmas presents. i wanted to post some pics of recycling shirts for you all to see, as i will order one for myself, but they arent able to be saved and all, so ill describe them for you: one has a recycle symbol and reads 'recycling not foreplay, but still very important'. the next one also has the symbol and reads 'recyclers do it over and over and over...'. and the one i think ill buy is just a white shirt with a recycle symbol. anyhoo, thats that.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

so tonight i was out with some girls for a bit and was talking about music. i started chatting with a gal about liking rap/hip-hop, and she was saying that she liked some hip-hop but didnt like rap. really, this is probably a question for ed, but the rest of you can comment if you like, but i thought hip-hop was like a true, more soulful rap, but rap in essence. she, on the other hand was under the impression (and from what she said so was a music store employee) that hip-hop was lighter (what she described seemed to be what i imagine to be r&b). now, i have no problem being wrong (other than the fact that i have said hip-hop was my favorite thinking that it was rap for some time now), but i would like to be enlightened.

and, i might not be remembering our conversation totally right, but thats the gist (is that how its spelled?) of it.

also, this is what i got from the wiki rapping page: ""Rap" redirects here. For the genre, see Hip hop music."

now, i was in the car today, on my way to lunch and i forgot my ipod at work. the thing that sucks about having an ipod is that i use it all the time and miss whats out on the radio. well, today i was listening to the r&b/hip-hop station that i like when this song came on. i was confused. what station is this? well, it was the right one, but i couldnt figure out why a song that sounded this way was on my hip-hop station. from what i can tell it was remade by timbaland and thats why its on my station. anyway, i dont know who onerepublic is, according to itunes they are classified as rock (whatever that means) and dont have anything i have ever heard before. anyhoo, i think ill buy the song.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

i am wearing fake eyelashes today. ive had some in my make-up drawer forever, and never use them, so i thought i would today.

it turns out that you can now get eyelash extensions, like those for your hair, glued on. you have to go for touch-ups every couple of months, but woodys aunt does them at her salon and i guess theyre really popular. doubt id ever do it (too expensive and time-consuming), but strange and interesting.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

its weird how turkey is not very good on its own, but in soup its great (my mom made some and sent it home with me and it rocks). the same can be said for peas and split pea soup and tomatoes and tomato soup (or tomatoes in soup even). im sure there are other things like that, but for some things making them into a soup doesnt help (like mushrooms and celery).

nows the time to let me know what religion you require for your holiday card. i dont like 'happy holidays' and plan on ordering christmas cards with georgias picture on them, but also have ordered some hannukah cards as well. just leave a comment with the one that applies to you (for you athiest/agnostics, i am not really sure what to do, so i might send you one of each unless that will just annoy you, let me know).

Thursday, November 15, 2007

i was thinking about doing a few different posts, but decided to post just once, with different subjects:1. i have a friend with this cool shirt that he claims to have purchased at urban outfitters (when i dont know, but a while ago since i have seen him in it a few times over who knows how many months). anyhoo, it is my favorite shirt ever, and i want one. i actually want one so badly that i have been thinking about how i could make one myself. then i remembered about cafe press. sure enough, i typed in 'recycle' and selected the womens shirt option and i found a lot of cool tees. actually, i think i might go for a large childs t so that i wont be cut all girl-shaped and still fit cute.

2. when i was younger, like 10 or 12, i had a good friend whose house i went to a lot. she had a large family and i stayed the night on weekends because they went to the same church as us so i could just go with them. well, their dad used to make this dinner called baked macaroni that was amazing. i made it the other day and have been eating it for a couple of days now. cook some pasta elbows (like a box) and add chopped up canned stewed tomatoes, mix and put in a bake-able container. add cheese (i use colby jack) and bake at 375 for 15 min.

3. i love the ipod commercial with the 'music is my hot, hot sex' song. the band is from brazil. i think i'll buy it.

Monday, November 12, 2007

actually, thats not true, but its a line from chuck, the train wreck of a show that we cant seem to stop watching. it looked like it was going to be pretty good, but it isnt. anyhoo, the episode that we are watching now has rachel bilson who weve been missing since a truly great show ended.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

our good friends, luis and rocio, along with their daughter, gemma, came to visit on wednesday night. they moved back to los angeles and it was nice to see them. they brought some gifts for georgia (its her birthday) and they also brought me a gift that rocio made. she makes jewelry and, if you ask me, shes pretty good at it.ring viewed from the side. its silver and has a brushed finish.here it is on me.and again.

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

well, we are back. i dodnt take any pics of the wedding in new york, the photographer did though and i will link to them when they are avaliable (i was really hot in that dress), but i got some pics of the canon city trip.gene simmons was at the newark airport. i asked him to smile. go figure.the arkansas river at royal gorge (?)picture of canon city from a really scary road up really high.becky at the golden bee in colorado springs.we had a great time. glad to be back, but we had fun.

Monday, October 22, 2007

well, as you might have noticed, i havent posted here in a while. almost every day on my way home from work i think about what i am going to post about after georgia goes to sleep, and then am too tired, busy, or both when that time comes. so, here are the things i was going to post about, and although it doesnt make up for the lack of posting, i hope it helps.

1. georgia is walking now. for those of you that read her blog or talk to either woody or myself you already know. but its pretty exciting. shes actually not too good at it, and even worse when she has shoes on, but i assume she will get better at it with time.

2. more georgia stuff. she had been sleeping in our room in a playpen since birth, and a lot of that time was spent sleeping in our bed between us. at about 3 months old she began consistantly sleeping through the night, until about 7 months of age when she would wake up to nurse. well, i am much too lazy to start waking up again in the middle of the night, so would pick her up and put her into our bed and she would nurse to sleep while i slept. now, this was a just fine solution, but with working a lot again i was needing my sleep, and i cant sleep as soundly with her nursing all night. i knew that she was not actually hungry at night, and figured that the problem was that she didnt know how to put herself to sleep since she had always been nursed to sleep. the thing that sucks though is that in order to get her to be able to fall asleep on her own i was going to have to let her pretty much cry herself to sleep in her crib (we decided that we might as well have her start sleeping in her own room while we were at it). i talked to my mom who had to do the same thing when my sisters and i were little, and my neighbor who did the same thing with all three of her kids, and got ready for a night of crying. the evening we decided to do the cry it out was a sunday, and woody had to embalm until 10 pm or so, and i was determined not to put it off until the next night, so i nursed georgia and went to put her down in her crib. well, she fussed for about 5 minutes and then realized that i wasnt coming to get her, and started in on the hard crying. i let her do that for a few minutes and went in to lay her back down and tell her i loved her (i was told to go in avery 5 min or so to reassure her that i hadnt left her). well, after 20 minutes she was done, and i didint go in after that. well, woody came home and went in to see her and she was asleep, standing up, in her crib. so he lay her back down. shes been sleeping through the night ever since.

3. i went and had my hair professionally cut and colored

looks good, huh?

4. we are leaving for new york on wednesday. why new york you say? well, my roomate from college, sam, is getting married on friday and i am a bridesmaid. its going to be at the canfield casino in saratoga springs and is supposed to be very cold. my mom is going too, which will be very helpful, as i will need to be doing wedding things that require a sitter for georgia. on our way back from ny we will be staying with jay and becky in colorado for a bit. very excited about that.

5. last night we went to bj's for dinner with our friends, dana and julie. it took forever. we were told the wait would be 35 min and it took 50 for us to be seated, and then it took 45 min for our appitizer to get to us and another 15 min to get our meals. unacceptable. so, we (i) talked to the manager, i was very kind actually, and we got our food for free. he even told us to order dessert (which was why we went there. if you have never had a pizookie you should). so we did, all for free.

Thursday, October 04, 2007

Thursday, September 27, 2007

so, as some of you know, i am in a wedding in saratoga springs, ny in the end of october. i booked the flight months ago with expedia to fly into newark airport (a 3.5 hour drive from the destination, but a good airport). we were going to land in nj at around 6 pm on a wednesday evening (3 pm california time, so we would be fine for the drive after that). the wedding is on a friday, so that would give us the full day thurs to hang out and go to the rehearsal dinner and all. i get an email from expedia letting me know about some schedule changes, which is fine, but then they hit me with a change that puts us into nj at 11pm instead of 6pm, which does not work for us at all. so, i call them and they politely tell me that im sol but that they will credit me $100 towards my next trip. at this point i was not mad, so i thanked the person and hung up.

well, the more i thought about it the more i thought that i had been wronged. i spent almost $1300 on our two tickets (well, for the round trip) and i wanted my flight back. so, i called again and was a little mad this time. they told me that i could not have a refund, but that i could switch flights for $100 per ticket and the difference of the new flight and thast i had to book with the same airline (american airlines). i would have to mail in the paper tickets first, and wait until they emailed me and then switch. whatever.

so, i decided i would call the airline directly. they told me that since an alternate flight had been set that i couldnt get a refund. then i was totally angry and said that it was not an alternate to me, the consumer. an alternate would not be getting me to my destination at an ungodly hour (which 11pm is when an infant is involved), but getting us there at around the same time ad the original flight, but maybe taking a different route. i sounded pissed too, and actually told the operator that i was sorry that she was getting the brunt of my anger when i knew it wasnt her fault (i always feel bad about that sort of thing). well, she checked with her supervisor and they said since it was a change of more than 90 minutes that i could switch flights.

so now i am sending my tickets to them and getting a direct flight that will arrive at arouns 6pm nj time. what a pisser. all that mess just to get there when we would have originally.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

i have a hard time not buying things from companies i dont like. now, starbucks is a pain. their coffee is awful, and i almost never buy coffee there. i do like their black iced tea, and if it werent $2.10 for their large (i refuse to use the lame language they have developed for their sizing), which really isnt that large anyways (24 oz i believe), i might buy from them all the time. but there is a drive-through coffee spot right by my house that has great coffee and tea, and their iced drinks are avaliable in a 32 oz size, for which they charge $1.80 for iced tea. very reasonable. now, there is a starbucks nearby too, but i dont go there for the previously stated reasons. but the thing that starbucks has that the local guy does not is a store on every corner. today i was running errands for work and wanted an iced tea. the local guys shop was not near my errands, and i hadnt thought about getting tea earlier, so i went to starbucks. the tea was good, but some people would stick to their decision to not go places that they dont really like, and i just couldnt.then came lunch. i had been i wasco after the errands i ran and was headed to shafter at about noon. there is a great sandwich shop in shafter that i have gone to a number of times and always been impressed with the quality of food (lots of meat, many things to dress up the sandwich, good iced tea, pepsi products, fresh salads, etc.). well two weeks ago i had woody order me a sandwich so i could pick it up on my way into town and when i got there i said i had a salami sandwich no mayo, no tomatoes to pick up. the gal working there told me that she had a salami, no tomato, no onion that woody ordered. well, i told her that he wouldnt have ordered it that way, as he knows that i LOVE onions and HATE mayo. she said that she took the order and thats what he ordered, then asked if i wanted to buy another sandwich. well, i was pissed, but i bought another. i paid for both sandwiches. when she bagged them both i told her she may as well give the incorrect one to someone or throw it out, as i was not going to eat something soaked in gross mayo. i told woody what happened and he was mad too, and i swore i was never going back. well, i did.doesnt it look yummy??

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Thursday, August 30, 2007

most of you know ive been back at work. well, the office im at is in wasco, and every day i drive by this house on my way in (its not too far from the office, actually). there is always random things outside, old gas pumps, signs, car parts, etc., and lately there have been some handmade signs about dopers. there was a noose put up a couple of months ago with a wooden plaque on it that reads 'dopers' (see second photo) and a sign that read something like 'save a family, save a baby, save a grandma. string up a doper.' anyway, this week that one was gone and this one was in its place:

its kind of hard to read, but goes as follows:

you may be a dumb doper if

1 you have no teeth

2. you have no money

3. baby's in microwave

4. sold wic cheese

5. looking for job

6. no diploma

7. waiting for mothers day (i thought that couldnt be it, but i checked and sure enough, thats what it says)

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Here are the rules:- Each player starts with eight random facts about themselves.- Those who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight facts and post these rules.- At the end of the post, choose some people to get tagged and list their names.

1. i was on the math team in 5th grade. i cannot add 5 and 7 in my head, but i did alright.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

i really love this type of programming. i hope that i remember to put the different ones put out by the discovery channel on my (or georgias if mines too full) christmas list. and while i am on the subject, i would like one of these (mom and dad). actually, i am not set on that camcorder, if anyone has helpful tips on selecting one, let me know.

and today i got some information in the mail about medela breast pumps. i am going to start renting them from my house (i think). i also am looking into la leche league stuff and considering becoming a leader.

Monday, August 20, 2007

i have no sitter any longer. it sucks because i have to wait for georgias nap to get work done, and i get irritated at her for it (isnt that awful), i dont enjoy receptionist work (i am the worst typist ewer, haha, ever), the drive to wasco sucks (g sleeps the whole time and it screws up her napping), and the entire day i wonder why we have to live in such an expensive house. its nice to not have a sitter because i dont have to pay anyone and i can use the extra cash (were a bit behind on the bills), not to mention that the company needs me, but i wish there was some solution. it just sucks.

Sunday, August 12, 2007

i have an awful sinus infection. my mom asked me if i had ever heard of ear candling, and i said that i hadnt. well, she has a friend that does it, and its supposed to clean out the ears as well as the sinuses behind the ears. so i went to woodys aunt carolyns house this evening because she does ear candling. i will attempt to describe it: there are these hollow candles that are about an inch in diameter. they are made with a loose-knit cloth (like cheesecloth but looser) that is covered in wax and then (i imagine) wound around a one inch dowel or something. the end that goes in your ear comes together like a cone. anyway, you light the end that does not go in your ear on fire and place the ear end in your ear while lying down. the fire i guess creates negative pressure and all the gunk comes out of the ear canal and sinus. here are some photos:

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Thursday, August 02, 2007

well, were leaving for vegas today. ed, heather and bekah are showing up at our house around 2 and we leave shortly after. were taking a mortuary van so we all can go in one car. hopefully the traffic wont be too bad, but you never know. anyhoo, hope you all have a fun weekend!

Saturday, July 28, 2007

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

here is the colored version. woody says i cant put it on my upper back (which is where i was thinking about putting it), so im working on changing his mind. not sure where else it would go, but i'd really like it across my chest. the actual drawing is about 10 inches wide and about 3 inches tall.

Monday, July 23, 2007

been working this weekend on a tattoo for georgia. well, for me, of her name. will post an update later, have already changed it.thought you all might like this old-school pic of us at jenny and malisa's before the marriage days.

Friday, July 20, 2007

woody and i were watching the colbert report and this guy, frank sulloway was on promoting his new book about birth order and personality traits. well, woody said he wants a copy of the book so i looked up his site and found this personality test and took it. y'all can take it too if you want.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

last tuesday i was making funeral arrangements with a family and they said that they would like a horse-drawn hearse to take the casket from the church to the cemetery. i told tham that i had never seen one in use before, but that i would check around (they had seen one at a funeral in bakersfield, so i knew i could find out something). well, i called a funeral home in bakersfield where a friend of ours works and sure enough, they gave me the name of the funeral home in tehachapi where such a coach exsisted. i called them and set it up for the service, and they brought by these pictures. the top one shows the hearse, it is an 1891 model, restored, and here you can see the glass windows and everything. the bottom picture shows what the horses (blonde belgians) look like from the front. anyway, the service was monday morning and it was all very neat. just thought id share!